Modular floor tile

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a modular floor tile, comprising a tile body and a splicing bar. The tile body consists of a base and a surface layer where the surface layer is used as an appearance for the modular floor tile. The base has a first slot and a second slot disposed on two opposing parallel sides of the bottom of the base. The splicing bar is partially embedded in the first slot in a manner to form an protruding portion matched to the second slot where the remainder of the top surface on the protruding portion is used to adhere to the second slot of an adjacent tile body. Therefore, the amount of adhesive used can be reduced while maintaining effective adhesion and adhesive overflow is avoided.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a floor tile, and more specifically to a modular floor tile.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In modern interior designs, when installing interior floors, normally wooden or stone materials are used. However, these materials are not easy to install because of the material characteristics and the level of installation skill required; for example, wooden tiles easily suffer from rot when they get damp and so are not suitable for humid environments, while stone floor tiles are heavy to install and for safety reasons can be too hard for indoor purposes. Therefore, plastic floor tiles or related composite floor tiles have been developed for various interior applications which can be easily installed with different styles and appearances and are gradually replacing conventional wood and stone floor tiles.

Conventional modular floor tiles are made of plastic so that the floor tiles can be easily installed without complicated installation procedures or require specialized tools, and so the typical individual can effortlessly install plastic floor tiles by themselves. When installing conventional plastic floor tiles, a layer of adhesive is disposed on the base floor or evenly sprayed on the bottom surfaces of plastic floor tiles, then plastic floor tiles are individually adhered to the base floor in sequence. However, regardless of which method is used to install plastic floor tiles, a large amount of adhesive is used to ensure good adhesion between plastic floor tiles and the base floor where the adhesion between plastic floor tiles is weak. Moreover, the amount of adhesive used cannot be controlled precisely due to base flooring roughness and unevenness with possible holes. If the applied adhesive is insufficient, plastic floor tiles may not adhere well to the base floor. If the applied adhesive is excessive, adhesive may flow up from the gaps between plastic floor tiles to sully the surfaces of plastic floor tiles and possibly spoil the beauty and appearance of the plastic floor tiles. Furthermore, even if plastic floor tiles adhere well to the base floor without any problems, i.e., a lot of adhesive has been applied between plastic floor tiles and the base floor, it will be very difficult to repair or replace the installed plastic floor tiles afterwards.

There have been attempts to implement mechanical joints to install plastic floor tiles without applying adhesive on the base floor as disclosed in Taiwanese patent No. M366574, entitled “Structure of scarfing plastic floor tile”. The floor tile comprises a PVC bottom layer and a surface layer where the PVC bottom layer acts as the base to directly contact to the base floor and a plurality of tenon protrusions and mortise grooves are laterally formed at two opposing sides or four sides. However, the tenons should be exposed from the surface layer for locking into the mortises by way of a tongue-and-groove joint so that the shape of the surface layer is irregular. Adhesive is also applied to the backside of the PVC bottom layer or in the mortises. When installing the plastic floor tiles, the mortises with adhesive are coupled with the tenons to adhere two adjacent plastic floor tiles together where excess adhesive can easily be squeezed to flow over from the mortises. However, when installing the plastic floor tiles, one has to consider whether two adjacent plastic floor tiles can be jointed or not leading to slower working progress. Moreover, adhesive squeezed from the mortises can lead to lumps on the joints between plastic floor tiles. After a long period of time after installation, the joints can easily be deformed.

Another attempt was made to give the base of the plastic floor tiles a multi-layered structure, as disclosed in Taiwanese patent No. I325914, entitled “Floor tile and packaging method thereof”. The floor tiles are thin laminated products where the top layer and the middle layer are made of thin elastic plastic materials and the bottom layer is made of an elastic foam material. Although the top layer, the middle layer, and the bottom layer all have the same dimension and shape, the top layer is intentionally shifted in the X-Y axis to asymmetrically join to the middle layer to define an L-shaped marginal section on the top layer and to define a reversed L-shaped marginal section on the middle layer where the L-shaped marginal section and the reversed L-shaped marginal section have the same dimensions with the shapes being mirror images of each other for floor tile assembly purposes. During installation of the plastic floor tiles, the L-shaped marginal section of the top layer of a floor tile is downwardly adhered to the reversed L-shaped marginal section of the middle layer of the adjacent floor tile to install different floor tiles from the corners. Therefore, in order to manufacture thin laminated floor tiles with a constant shifting between the top layers and the middle layers, more accurate lamination equipment is needed to ensure that the L-shaped marginal sections of the top layers and the reversed L-shaped marginal sections of the middle layers of every floor tile are consistent, and more precise equipment is more expensive requiring a greater capital investment. If low-cost equipment is used, the L-shaped marginal section of the top layer and the reversed L-shaped marginal section of the middle layer of every floor tile may be crooked with different shifting gaps, i.e., the widths of the L-shaped marginal sections of the top layers and the reversed L-shaped marginal sections of the middle layers are different. Therefore, during floor tile installation procedures, floor tiles have to be trimmed and adjusted adding more difficulties during installation and even facing scarfing issues between adjacent floor tiles. Furthermore, when some of the floor tiles need to be repaired or replaced due to wear, damage, or remodeling, the L-shaped marginal section of the top layer of the floor tile be replaced has to be removed with a plurality of reversed L-shaped marginal sections of the middle layer of the adjacent floor tiles, which can cause structural changes or even damage to the shifting gaps of the L-shaped marginal sections where a large area of floor tiles have to be removed, which cannot be done in a short period of time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An objective of the present invention is to provide a modular floor tile to reduce the amount of adhesive applied, to effectively increase adhesion and to further avoid adhesive overflow. Moreover, an adhesive can be applied without turning floor tiles over during the installing procedure. The manufacturing process is much easier with lower equipment costs for mass production purposes without manufacture difficulties and higher cost equipment to make accurate shifting gaps in every floor tile.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a modular floor tile without a tongue-and-groove joint between adjacent floor tiles for easy installation with a reduced installation time.

Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a modular floor tile which can be effectively recycled with less time to remove and rework when removing the modular floor tiles installed on the base floor without damaging the floor tiles.

According to the present invention, a modular floor tile is includes a tile body and a splicing bar. The tile body includes a surface layer and a base where the surface layer is disposed on top of the base to provide the patterning appearance for the modular floor tile. The base has a first slot and a second slot disposed on two opposing parallel sides on the bottom surface. The splicing bar is partially embedded in the first slot in a manner to form extruded protruded portion matching the second slot where the exposed top surface on the protruded portion has a width for adhering to the second slot of an adjacent tile body.

The modular floor tile according to the present invention has the following advantages and effects:

1. Through a specific assembled structure of forming the first slot and the second slot at the base with the splicing bar partially embedded in the first slot as a technical means, the splicing bar has protruding portion protruding from the first slot and matching the second slot so that the splicing bar is used as an adhering medium between the first slot of a tile body and the second slot of an adjacent tile body. Therefore, the amount of adhesive used can be reduced while effectively increasing adhesion and to further avoid adhesive overflow. Moreover, the manufacturing process is much easier with lower-cost equipment needed for mass production without associated manufacturing difficulties of higher-cost equipment required to make accurate shifting gaps in every floor tile.

2. Through a specific assembled structure of forming the first slot and the second slot at the base with the splicing bar partially embedded in the first slot as a technical means, the splicing bar has a protruding portion from the first slot of a tile body to adhere to the second slot of an adjacent tile body with less adhesive so that no tongue-and-groove joint is needed between adjacent floor tiles for easy installation with reduced installation times.

3. Through a specific assembled structure of forming the first slot and the second slot at the base with the splicing bar partially embedded in the first slot as a technical means, two adjacent tile bodies are installed by way of the splicing bar where the tile bodies need not be adhered to the base floor. Therefore, there is no direct joint relationship between floor tile bodies and the base floor so that the floor tile bodies can effectively be recycled with less time for removal and remodeling when removing the modular floor tiles installed on the base floor without damaging the floor tiles.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a plurality of modular floor tiles according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed perspective disassembled view of a plurality of modular floor tiles according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a plurality of modular floor tiles after installation according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a modular floor tile before installation according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to the attached drawings, the present invention is described by means of the embodiment(s) below where the attached drawings are simplified for illustration purposes only to illustrate the structures or methods of the present invention by describing the relationships between the components and assembly in the present invention. Therefore, the components shown in the figures are not expressed with the actual numbers, actual shapes, actual dimensions, nor with actual ratios. Some of the dimensions or dimension ratios have been enlarged or simplified to provide a better illustration. The actual numbers, actual shapes, or actual dimensional ratios can be selectively designed and disposed and component layouts may be more complicated.

According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of modular floor tiles are illustrated in FIG. 1 in a perspective view, in FIG. 2 with a detailed perspective disassembling view, and FIG. 3 for a cross-sectional view. One of the modular floor tiles is illustrated in FIG. 4 in a cross-sectional view. The modular floor tile 100 primarily comprises a tile body 110 and a splicing bar 120.

As shown from FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, the tile body 110 includes a surface layer 111 and a base 112 where the surface layer 111 is disposed on top of the base 112 to provide a patterned appearance for the modular floor tile 100 and the base 112 has a first slot 113 and a second slot 114 formed on two opposing parallel sides on the bottom surface of the base 112. The base 112 serves as the major support for the tile body 110 which can be chosen from plastic materials, composite materials, or other cost effective materials. As described in more detail below, the base 112 can be a single-layer structure or a multi-layer structure with adhesive for adhering to the surface layer 111. In the present embodiment, the surface layer 111 is directly attached to the base 112 without adhesives by way of thermal lamination to make the surface layer 111 and the base 112 become a single assembly. Or, in a different embodiment, the surface layer 111 is disposed on top of the base 112 with adhesives to achieve lower costs. To be more specific, the tile body 110 can be a rectangular strip such as 6″ by 36″ in size with a thickness of 2.3 mm. In various embodiments, the tile body 110 can be square or other shapes to accommodate different requirements. Furthermore, the first slot 113 and the second slot 114 are L-shaped parallel gaps with the same width and length which are formed by milling parallel slots of 25 mm by 0.5 mm from two opposing parallel sides into the bottom surface of the base 112, where the depths of the first slot 113 and the second slot 114 are not be larger than one-fourth of the thickness of the tile body 110 to maintain support for the portions of the tile body 110 on top of the first slot 113 and the second slot 114 without affecting the strength of the tile body 110. In a preferred embodiment, the pattern surface of the surface layer 111 can be chosen from wood grains or stone patterns to meet different requirements of installation occasions to provide a lively environment for the interior atmosphere.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4, a part of the top surface 121 of the splicing bar 120 is adhered to the first slot 113 in a manner that the splicing bar 120 has a protruding portion 122 protruding from the first slot 113. The protruding portion 122 matches the shape of the second slot 114. The remainder of the top surface 121 of the protruding portion 122 is exposed, and has a width adapted for adhering to the second slot 114 of the adjacent tile body 110, as shown in FIG. 3. This width is about half the width of the splicing bar 120. In the present embodiment, the thickness of the splicing bar 120 can be equal to the depth of the first slot 113 or the second slot 114, i.e., the thickness is about 0.5 mm. Moreover, the width of the splicing bar 120 is equal to or slightly smaller than the total width of the first slot 113 and the second slot 114, i.e., the width of the splicing bar 120 is under 50 mm so that the first slot 113 of the tile body 110 can accurately join and adhere to the second slot 114 of the adjacent tile body 110 to form a floor tile assembly to avoid excessive gaps between adjacent floor tile bodies 110. Or, in a different embodiment, the width of the splicing bar 120 can be slightly larger than the total width of the first slot 113 and the second slot 114 to keep constant gaps between adjacent floor tile bodies 110. Moreover, the length of the splicing bar 120 is not larger than the corresponding length of the tile body 110 to avoid interfering with the installation procedure of the modular floor tiles 100. If the length of the splicing bar 120 is longer than that of a single tile body 110 during the installing procedure, the excessive length of the splicing bar 120 can be cut with a knife so that both ends of the splicing bar 120 align to both ends of the first slot 113 of the tile body 110. In a preferred embodiment, the splicing bar 120 has single-sided adhesive where adhesive 130 is only applied onto the top surface 121 of the splicing bar 120. Therefore, there is no adhesive to adhere the tile body 110 to the base floor 10 so that it is easier to repair or replace the floor tile bodies 110. Or, in another embodiment, the splicing bar 120 has a double-sided adhesive for adhering to the base floor 10, for example, during the installation of the modular floor tiles 100, adhesive 130 can be applied in a double-sided manner to the splicing bar 120 of the tile body 110 to make the splicing bar 120 firmly adhere to the base floor 10, and firmly adhere to the tile body 110. The tile body 110 is not directly adhered to the ground 10. Hence, only the splicing bar 120 is damaged during re-installation so that the tile body 110 is reusable. In the present embodiment, the material of the splicing bar 120 can be plastic such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to make the tile body 110 flexible and have a non-slip surface. Even if the splicing bar 120 does not adhere to the ground 10, the tile body 110 and the splicing bar 120 will not move on the ground 10.

In short, through a specific assembled structure of forming the first slot 113 and the second slot 114 disposed on two opposing parallel sides on the bottom surface of the base 112 of the tile body 110 with the splicing bar 120 partially embedded in the first slot 113 as a technical means, the splicing bar 120 has a protruded portion 122 protruding from the first slot 113 and matching the second slot 114 so that the protruding portion 122 can be adhere to the second slot 114 of the adjacent tile body 110 with less adhesive 130 on the top surface 121. Therefore, the consumption amount of adhesive applied can be greatly reduced while effectively increasing adhesion and to further avoid adhesive 130 overflowing on the surface layer 111. Moreover, the manufacturing process is much easier requiring low cost equipment for mass production without the manufacture difficulties associated with higher cost equipment needed to make accurate shifting gaps in every floor tile. Since the splicing bar 120 is used as an adhering medium, the tile body 110 does not need to be turned over to apply adhesive during installing procedure. The tile bodies 110 are installed by way of the splicing bar 120 to adhere to adjacent tile bodies 110 and/or to the base floor 10, therefore, there is no direct joint relationship between two adjacent tile bodies 110 and between the tile body 110 and the base floor 10. Therefore, when replacing the floor tile bodies 110 in the future, the tile bodies 110 can be easily removed from the base floor 10. Even if the splicing bars 120 are damaged during removal of the modular floor tiles 100 installed on the base floor 10, the tile bodies 110 themselves will not be damaged and so the removed floor tile bodies 110 can effectively be reused with less time to remove and rework. Moreover, since a tile body 110 is connected with the adjacent tile body 110 with the splicing bar 120 without any tongue-and-groove joints between adjacent modular floor tiles 100, an easy installation requiring less installation time is provided so that end users can complete the installation of modular floor tiles 100 by themselves within the shortest time and avoid deformation of tile bodies 110 under stress for a long period of time.

As shown in FIG. 1, when installing the modular floor tiles 100, the tile body 110 with the adjacent tile body 110 in an adjacent row can be installed in a staggered format, i.e., the gap between end sides of two floor tile bodies 110 in the same row is aligned with the center of the adjacent floor tile 110 in an adjacent row. Since the splicing bar 120 is adhered on only one side of the tile body 110 as a unit, when some floor tile bodies 110 in the same row are installed, each splicing bar 120 partially exposed from one side of the tile body 110 can adhere to two adjacent floor tile bodies 110 in the adjacent row where the splicing bar 120 will not impact the installation of the staggered format of floor tile bodies 110.

In order to manifest the advantages of the present embodiment, the installation procedure for modular floor tiles 100 is described in detail. Firstly, step one is performed as shown in FIG. 2; the splicing bar 120 is only adhered to the first slot 113 of the tile body 110 but not to the second slot 114 of the tile body 110. This step is repeated until every first slot 113 of the floor tile bodies 110 is adhered to one splicing bar 120. Then, step two is performed to place the modular floor tiles 100 on the base floor 10 where the splicing bar 120 protruding from every tile body 110 forms the protruding portion 122 and the top surface 121 on the protruded portion 122 is adhered to the second slot 114 of the adjacent tile body 110 until all the floor tile bodies 110 are completely installed in a staggered format. During step two, the joints between the tile bodies 110 by the splicing bar 120 can further be enhanced by hammering with a rubber hammer to ensure good adhesion between the two. Then, step three is performed by walking back and forth on the installed modular floor tiles 100 to further make the tile body 110 and the splicing bar 120 firmly adhere together and tightly attached to the base floor.

As shown in FIG. 4, a release film 140 can be pre-disposed on the top surface 121 on the protruding portion 122 protruding out from the first slot 113. When the release film 140 is peeled off, adjacent modular floor tiles 100 can be adhered to each other. Even if the adhesive position is not accurate, it can be readjusted without damaging to the tile body 110 which is most suitable for DIY applications.

The above description of embodiments of this invention is intended to be illustrative but not limited. Other embodiments of this invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art in view of the above disclosure which still will be covered by and within the scope of the present invention even with any modifications, equivalent variations, and adaptations. 

1. A modular floor tile comprising: a tile body having a base and a surface layer disposed on the base to provide a visual appearance for the modular floor tile, wherein a first slot and a second slot are formed on two opposing parallel sides of a bottom of the base; and a splicing bar having a top surface partially attached to the first slot in a manner to form a protruding portion protruding from the first slot and matched to the second slot in shape, wherein the exposed top surface on the protruded portion has a width configured for adhering to the second slot of an adjacent tile body.
 2. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein the thickness of the splicing bar is equal to each depth of the first slot and the second slot, wherein each depth of the first slot and the second slot is not larger than one-fourth of the thickness of the tile body.
 3. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein a width of the splicing bar is equal to or less than a width that is the sum of the widths of the first slot and the second slot.
 4. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein a width of the splicing bar is larger than a width that is the sum of the widths of the first slot and the second slot.
 5. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein the splicing bar has a single-sided adhesive where adhesive is applied only on the top surface of the splicing bar.
 6. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein the splicing bar has a double-sided adhesive.
 7. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tile body is a rectangular strip.
 8. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 7, wherein the length of the splicing bar is not larger than the corresponding length of the tile body.
 9. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein the surface layer has a visual appearance selected from the stet consisting of wood grains, stones, and tiles.
 10. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein the splicing bar is made from flexible polyvinyl chloride.
 11. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first slot and the second slot are parallel L-shaped gaps with equal widths and lengths.
 12. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tile body with an adjacent tile body in an adjacent row are installed in staggered format.
 13. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: an adhesive disposed on the exposed top surface on the protruding portion; and a release film disposed on the adhesive. 